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Resources

For Health Practitioners

These resources were developed in 2022 in collaboration with WWILD Sexual Violence Prevention and with funding from 100 Women. They were co-designed with a group of incredibly women with intellectual and learning disabilities and difficulties, and informed by consultation with key stakeholders from violence, disability and health-related services.

Children by Choice and WWILD would like to thank all the women and professionals who supported this project, offering their time, expertise and experiences to support the development of this suite of resources.

People with intellectual disabilities have been found to have lower levels of sexual and reproductive health literacy and face poorer health outcomes, including a lack of informed decision making (autonomy). Professionals working with clients with disabilities report a lack of confidence in communicating effectively with these clients and are often found to communicate primarily with carers or family members, making patients with intellectual disabilities feel unseen and unsupported.

Thus, these 4 documents were specifically designed for use by professionals working with women with intellectual and learning disabilities and difficulties. We hope they will support professionals (you, perhaps) to have empowering and clear conversations about key reproductive health and rights issues with clients who may have comprehension or communication challenges.

We hope professionals will have time to work through the books with their clients, expanding on the topics covered and answering questions in real time. For example, conversations about contraception may require discussions about side-effects, which aren’t covered in the resource. That said, if it isn’t possible to work through the booklets with your clients, or if you’re sharing them more widely, we ask you to consider accompanying them with information about locally relevant and accessible services.

We hope you find them useful in your practice and would warmly welcome any feedback you have about how they are working for you and your patients. Please email [email protected] with any questions or feedback you have.

Instructions for pracitioners